Police shot man with hands raised, court told

A man fatally shot by a police officer in Mukurweini had raised his hands up to surrender, his younger brother told a Nyeri High Court.

Patrick Kanyi, told Lady Justice Abigail Mshilla that his brother, Gregory King’ori, was shot by the policeman in the chest in front of his wife and children at midnight.

He was testifying during the murder trial of Officer Chibungu Sanga, 34, who is accused of killing the deceased on the night of March 2015.

Mr Kanyi, an eye witness, said the policeman was accompanied by other two officers during the incident.

He said the officers were drunk.

Mr Kanyi further told court that he later recorded statement at Mukurweini police station but police officers forced him to sign without allowing him to read what they had written.

POLICE STATEMENT

“I was told that I must sign. I was not allowed to read what they had written,” he said while he disowned sections of the police statement during the case hearing.

He dismissed reports that the deceased was shot since he was armed with a panga and after resisting arrest.

The witness also denied that King’ori had attempted to jump through the window.

He said the deceased was awaken by his wife after the officers arrived at the homestead.

Another witness, John Wachira who is cousin and neighbour of the deceased said he heard gunshots at midnight and later heard people running towards his coffee farm.

FATAL SHOOTING

“I heard movements just behind my house and I later realised they were police. They stopped and I heard one saying ‘do not worry I have shot him’. Another one arrived and asked for a gun but his colleague declined. Shortly later I heard another gunshot,” Mr Wachira told the court.

“My house is wooden and therefore I could hear everything in the conversation,” he noted.

He said the next morning the deceased’s body was found in the coffee plantation with gun wounds.

The witness termed the deceased as a peaceful man.

He denied knowledge of brawl between the deceased and the police officer at a pub in Mukurweini town days before the incident.